Las Vegas: Tony Stewart preview

TONY STEWART
Las Vegas Lone Venue on "To-Do" List
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Feb. 25, 2009) -- Of all the venues that host both the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Las Vegas
Motor Speedway is the lone racetrack where Tony...

TONY STEWART
Las Vegas Lone Venue on "To-Do" List

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Feb. 25, 2009) -- Of all the venues that host both the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Las Vegas
Motor Speedway is the lone racetrack where Tony Stewart has yet to
record a victory.

It's certainly not for a lack of effort, as the driver of the No. 14
Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing has
recorded four top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes while leading
a total of 179 laps in his 10 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile
oval.

But it was in last year's Nationwide Series race where Stewart appeared
poised to cross Las Vegas off his "to-do" list.

Driving a No. 20 Old Spice Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Stewart
led twice for 61 laps, and after his then JGR teammate Kyle Busch
crashed out when a flat tire sent him into the wall, there was no other
driver even close to matching the pace set by Stewart. But an accident
with a lapped car on lap 137 of the 202-lap race sent Stewart hard into
the SAFER Barrier along the outside retaining wall in turn three, ending
his shot at visiting Las Vegas' victory lane. It was a disappointing
end to what could've been history. After winning the season-opening
Nationwide Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and
the very next race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., a third
straight win would've made Stewart the first driver to sweep the first
three races of the season.

Unfortunately, history wasn't made and Stewart remained winless when in
the very next day's Sprint Cup race, a blown right-front tire on lap 108
ended his day early. It sent Stewart into the SAFER Barrier in turn four
and returned him to the infield care center, where he was again treated
and released.

Even though a win hasn't been earned at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
Stewart has in fact won a race on the track's grounds. It came in
November 2002 at the Las Vegas Bullring, located just behind turns one
and two of the 1.5-mile oval, where Stewart swept the USAC (United
States Auto Club) Sprint/Midget doubleheader.

Coming off consecutive top-10 runs in his debut season as a driver/owner
with Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart returns to Las Vegas ready to notch
that much desired win -- on the big track and in the big-time, for
Sprint Cup is the only race on Stewart's docket this weekend.

Sunday's Shelby 427 is the sole focus for Stewart and the No. 14 Old
Spice/Office Depot team, and since the Sprint Cup Series only visits Las
Vegas once a year, it's Stewart's one chance to put a checkmark in the
win column next to the currently vacant box that reads "Las Vegas".

A lot of importance was placed on the California race, and it seems an
equal amount of importance is placed on the upcoming race at Las Vegas.
Why?

"These early races teach you very quickly where your program is
compared to the competition. If your cars are good, you'll run well at
California, Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and so on. Everybody wants to know
where they stack up and shake up right now. If you can get off to a good
start, it shows that your program is really where it needs to be. This
is a huge week."

You're one of only three drivers who have finished in the top-10 in
the first two races of the season -- the others being Matt Kenseth and
Kurt Busch. Considering you've accomplished that feat with what is
essentially a new team, are you impressed with where Stewart-Haas Racing
is this early in the season?

"To come out of California, which is not one of my best tracks, with
another top-10, I think that's a pretty strong statement. This is still
a very young team in terms of us working together. To have the results
we've had so far is very encouraging. There's still a lot of racing in
front of us, but it's important to get off to a good start. So far,
we've done that, but we need to keep doing it this weekend at Las Vegas.
We've been solid for two straight weeks. Now, our focus is on Las Vegas,
and making sure we stay strong for three straight weeks."

How is Las Vegas Motor Speedway different from Auto Club Speedway (nee
California Speedway), site of last week's Sprint Cup race?

"The corners are tighter. It's tighter coming off turn four and tighter
going into turn one than it is at California. That's why the handling is
so important there. Because the corners are tighter, it makes it really
important that the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet rolls through there
free -- not tight or loose. It's a real important track in terms of
balance."

Your USAC teams race Wednesday night at The Dirt Track, and then your
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series teams race Thursday night at The
Dirt Track. It's not often when the schedules of your open-wheel teams
coincide with your Sprint Cup schedule. Are you looking forward to a
busy week as an owner and a driver?

"Oh, yeah. It's really a cool weekend because we get to watch the USAC
guys on Wednesday and then the Outlaw guys on Thursday, so I get to see
both sides of my open-wheel teams run two days in a row, and then I get
to play the rest of the weekend. So I'm excited about that. That's what
makes going to Talladega (Ala.) and Charlotte (N.C.) and some of these
other places so much fun is that we do get to see our other programs
running. We'll get to see all of our Chevy teams out there and that will
be fun."

While you've been an owner of USAC and World of Outlaws Sprint Car
Series teams for nearly a decade, what's it been like owning your own
Sprint Cup team?

"We've got guys that have come from five different organizations
here that are running this organization with us. I don't think you
necessarily tell them this is exactly how it has to be done. I think
we've tried to collectively take what we thought were the best
ideas from all five organizations and try to utilize them to make
ourselves even better. So there's a lot of trial and error in all the
organizations we've been a part of to get them where they are. Having
that knowledge from the five of us, there are things that we've seen
that we liked, and there are things that we didn't like. For all five
of us to sit down and talk about that, that's really helped us get a
direction of how we at least wanted to start. We didn't expect it to
be perfect right off the bat, and we haven't been, but you start with
what you think is the best way to do things, and as you go, you make
adjustments as you need to. To date right now, I feel like we've got a
really good direction of how we do things."

Stewart-Haas Racing receives its engines from Hendrick Motorsports. All
of the top teams have an in-house engine program. Do you ever envision
creating an in-house engine program at Stewart-Haas Racing?

"I don't see us making plans to do that. You look at Hendrick's engine
program, and I don't think they're lacking anything there. The last
three years have proven that. I think you look at past experiences and
you look at Darrell Waltrip's experiences as a car owner, and he'll be
the first one to tell you that was the mistake he made was going from a
program like that, which kept him where he needed to be, to thinking he
could make it better by starting his own program. That actually led to
the end of it. We've got a great partnership with Hendrick Motorsports,
and I don't see us straying off from their program and their engines.
That's part of the reason why Ryan (Newman) and I are so excited to be
here. The opportunity to work with those guys and our input on top of
Jeff's (Gordon) and Jimmie's (Johnson) and Dale's (Earnhardt Jr.) and
Mark's (Martin) input that they have from their program. Being able to
have our two cents worth in this program makes it better for all six of
us."